BLOGGING FROM MY NOGGIN

Drones are huge these days, and only getting bigger. Well, I mean bigger by more popular because actually a lot of them are actually getting smaller. The DJI Phantom, pictured here, is one of the most popular and most sold drones ever. But there are so many on the market, you really need to figure out what will be the best for you. I personally have the Phantom 2, because I didn't have over $1000 to spend, and I really like it. You can get the Phantom 2 still for just over $400 right now. But that is a very basic model. There is no camera at all. Luckily I already had a GoPro so I was able to mount that to the drone. For that price there isn't even a mount so I bought a simple one on Amazon for it. The video isn't bad, but to get the really good steady video you need a gimbal, which is another $250. And then there is still no First Person View at all, that is also extra. You might be thinking, well what did you get? I got a great drone that has GPS based stabilization and one of the longer battery run times on the market. I spent only $15 for a mount for the GoPro and now I have a quality drone set up that takes pretty good footage. Below I will post a video that I took at Camp Wakonda that was 90% done on my Phantom 2 that I just described. But....... What if that's not what you want to do. What if you want to just fly around the house and have fun unwinding from work. Then that is not the drone for you. There are many micro drones out there that are perfect for flying around the home. Also, if you fly a drone outdoors that weighs over half a pound then you have to have it registered with the FAA. Check out my drones page for more info on that. www.greatwhiteninja.com/drones.html One thing that I will say is ignore all the drones that you find in the big box stores. They will tempt you, but stay away. Go to your local hobby store and buy from them. They will offer drones and replacement parts for them when they break. If you buy from the big box store and then crash, that is it, ready for the trash can. If you have the big bucks and are looking for the fully loaded drone that is ready to fly right out of the box without a large learning curve, then I suggest you look at the newly released drones from GoPro and DJI. The GoPro Karma and DJI Mavic are smaller fully loaded drones that are great for people that just want to grab the drone and go. Both of these drones fold up and are smaller and lighter then the Phantom models. And for just over a $1000 they offer just about everything that you could want. They are brand new so many of you probably haven't heard of them. I will put video links down below from their companies so you can learn more about them along with my comparison of the DJI phantom 2 and a micro drone.